Back26/11 Mumbai attacks planned, launched from Pakistan soil: ex-FIA chief
The former FIA chief asks the government to admit its 'mistakes'
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Islamabad: The 26/11 mayhem was planned and launched from Pakistan for which Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were trained in Sindh, the former head of Pakistan’s investigation agency who had led the probe into the Mumbai attack has acknowledged while asking the government to admit its “mistakes".
In an article for the Dawn newspaper, Tariq Khosa, who was made head of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) weeks after the 2008 assault that killed 166 people, said, “Pakistan has to deal with the Mumbai mayhem, planned and launched from its soil. This requires facing the truth and admitting mistakes."
He also demanded that Pakistan’s state security apparatus should ensure that the perpetrators and masterminds of the “ghastly terror attacks" are brought to justice.
Noting that the case has lingered on for far too long, Khosa said dilatory tactics by the defendants, frequent change of trial judges and assassination of the case prosecutor as well as retracting from original testimony by some key witnesses have been serious setbacks for the prosecutors.
In candid admissions, some of which contradict Pakistan’s stand on the issue, Khosa lays down the facts of the Mumbai attack trial in the article.
Listing out the facts of the case, Khosa writes, “First, Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani national, whose place of residence and initial schooling as well as his joining a banned militant organisation was established by the investigators.
“Second, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were imparted training near Thatta, Sindh, and launched by sea from there. The training camp was identified and secured by the investigators," he writes. Khosa also pointed out that the casings of the explosive devices used in Mumbai were recovered from this training camp and duly matched.
“Third, the fishing trawler used by the terrorists for hijacking an Indian trawler in which they sailed to Mumbai, was brought back to harbour, then painted and concealed. It was recovered by the investigators and connected to the accused," he writes.
“Fourth, the engine of the dinghy abandoned by the terrorists near Mumbai harbour contained a patent number through which the investigators traced its import from Japan to Lahore and then to a Karachi sports shop from where an LeT-linked militant purchased it along with the dinghy," he added.
Khosa also talks about the money trail that was followed and linked to the accused who was arrested.
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